AL.com -- Sgt. Carlie M. Lee III, known to his family as Nicky, had two loves in his life, according to his mother, Norma Lee.

Low-riding trucks and his mama.

"He loved me more than anything," she said Monday.

Sgt. Lee, a 23-year-old native of Sandusky, a community on the west edge of Birmingham, was killed Friday in Afghanistan, she said.

According to a news release from the Department of Defense, Lee and Staff Sgt. Esau I. Delapena Hernandez, 25, of La Puente, Calif., were killed Friday in Chak, Afghanistan.

Norma Lee said her son was shot multiple times. The military did not provide an account of the circumstances of the two men's deaths other than to say "their patrol was attacked by enemy forces using small-arms fire."

Norma Lee questioned whether her son should have been in combat that day. Sgt. Lee had only recently undergone surgery on his appendix and had not been out of the hospital for more than two weeks when he went back into combat, she said.

Sgt. Lee and Staff Sgt. Hernandez were members of the 2nd Battalion, 87th Infantry Regiment and deployed earlier this year with the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.

After completing training at Fort Benning, Lee was assigned to Fort Drum in New York in August 2006.

Sgt. Lee's awards and decorations include the Army Achievement Medal, the Joint Meritorious Unit Award, the Army Good Conduct Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, the Afghanistan Campaign Medal with Combat Service, the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, the Army Service Ribbon, the Overseas Service Ribbon and the NATO Medal.

He was a graduate of the Combat Life Savers Course and had previously deployed to Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom from October 2006 to May 2007.

Sgt. Lee had re-enlisted in the Army in December and was scheduled to return home in July.

Lee said her son joined the Army two weeks after graduating from home-schooling. She said her son was a mother's best friend.

"He was just full of life," she said. "He loved everybody. He didn't judge nobody."